Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Aug. 31st, 2005 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdI won't be able to do one of these for a few days after this one; I'll be busy heading up the newsletter at the NASFiC. Wish me luck!
Vatican considers moves against celibate gay priests;
Fundamentalist groups blame gay people for Katrina and New Orleans (1);
Fundamentalist groups blame gay people for Katrina and New Orleans (2);
New Texas laws combine to provide opportunity to charge abortion-providing doctors with a capital crime - authors say this was never their intention;
Pat Robertson calls GBLT people "self-absorbed narcissists who are willing to destroy any institution so long as they can have affirmation of their lifestyle," blames GBLT-folk for no-fault divorce - the hosting site points out that Ronald Reagan signed the first no-fault divorce law in the country, as governor of California;
More wrestling over Plan B; in this case, not talking about emergency contraception with rape victims;
After governor vetoes DP legislation, same-sex couples sue in Maryland for marriage rights;
Focus on the Family article and action item against restrictions on prostelization at the Air Force Academy;
CWA action item against GBLT-inclusive civil rights bill currently in House Judiciary committee;
Washington Times and fundamentalist leaders take umbrage at the idea that single parents and lesbian couples can properly raise male children;
Seattle Times to CWA attack on Starbucks Coffee - bugger off;
TVC action item against marriage rights in California.
----- 1 -----
Vatican plan to block gay priests
Jamie Doward, religious affairs correspondent
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1558063,00.html
The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests.
The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church's training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI.
It been suggested Rome would publish the instruction earlier this month, but it dropped the plan out of concern that such a move might tarnish his visit to his home city of Cologne last week.
The document expresses the church's belief that gay men should no longer be allowed to enter seminaries to study for the priesthood. Currently, as all priests take a vow of celibacy, their sexual orientation has not been considered a pressing concern.
Vatican-watchers believe the Pope harbours doubts about whether the church should publish the document, which has already been the subject of three drafts.
'Inevitably, such a directive will be met with opposition,' said John Haldane, professor of moral philosophy at the University of St Andrews.
The instruction tries to dampen down the controversy by eschewing a moral line, arguing instead that the presence of homosexuals in seminaries is 'unfair' to both gay and heterosexual priests by subjecting the former to temptation.
'It will be written in a very pastoral mode,' Haldane said. 'It will not be an attack on the gay lifestyle. It will not say "homosexuality is immoral". But it will suggest that admitting gay men into the priesthood places a burden both on those who are homosexual and those they are working alongside who are not.'
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Gays 'Responsible' For New Orleans Devastation Group Claims
by Fidel Ortega 365Gay.com Miami Bureau
Posted: August 31, 2005 3:00 pm ET
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/08/083105nola.htm
(New Orleans, Louisiana) An evangelical Christian group that regularly demonstrates at LGBT events is blaming gays for hurricane Katrina.
Repent America says that God "destroyed" New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay festival that was to have taken place in the city over the Labor Day weekend.
"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars" Repent America director Michael Marcavage said in a statement Wednesday.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city." Marcavage said. "From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."
"Let us pray for those ravaged by this disaster. However, we must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said.
"May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
As 365Gay.com reported on Tuesday, organizers for Southern Decadence have cancelled the event and are promising full ticket refunds. (story)
[...]
Repent America most recently demonstrated at the Philadelphia Phillies tribute to gay fans earlier this month. (story)
Last year 10 members of Repent America marched to an area near the front of a stage at Philadelphia's Outfest and began to yell Biblical passages.
Police attempted to get the protestors to move to to an area on the edge of the Outfest site. Instead they went deeper into the gay crowd. Using a bullhorn they condemned homosexuality. They then got into an argument with a group of Pink Angels, who screamed back.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
NEW ORLEANS’ SIN BROUGHT DEVASTATION: ‘REPENT AMERICA’
By J. Grant Swank, Jr.
MichNews.com
Aug 31, 2005
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_9292.shtml
"Southern Decadence" was set for New Orleans soon. It was to be a yearly hoopla celebrating practicing homosexuality as a legitimate, giddy lifestyle.
Thousands upon thousands were going to crawl all over New Orleans "to celebrate their sexuality," according to Methodist lay preacher Gary Hopkins of Ekklesia.co.uk (gary.hopkins@ekklesia.co.uk).
In other words, Sodom and Gomorrah were to be reenacted in broad daylight — and into the night haunts as well. It would be one high ol’ time of it in the southern scape.
Police would be forced to look the other way or fill the jails to overflowing. Decent citizens would cover their eyes to play hide-and-seek against the all-inclusive wickedness. Little children would be taken on hopefully safe excursions in order to escape the blatant evil parading their avenues. Businesses would money-shoot off the charts from homosexuals’ open wallets in festive abandon.
Then came along Katrina.
Now New Orleans is under water, bathing in sewage and devastation rather than providing downtown fountains for homosexual capers aplenty.
All of this has prompted Repent America to conclude that the biblical God had a heavy hand in the Katrina swing along. It’s an "‘act of God,’" they claim to media. United States-based, Repent America goes to the streets to preach repentance of sin, conversion to Christ as personal Savior, and thereby living the holy lifestyle according to the biblical message.
As far as Repent America is concerned, divine judgment has come upon a metropolis that was bent on making its environs open to hell’s demons. Therefore, God intervened. There will be no "Southern Decadence" skipping the light fantastic. Over and out. Done. Gone. Under water.
[...]
Repent America brings the nation back to Jesus’ opening call and Peter’s declaration as this evangelical organization continues to warn souls of personal accounting at the Judgment Seat of Christ. They do so without apology. They do so at the chagrin of theological liberals. They do so at the mockery of lesbians and homosexuals who claim to be "Christian." Yet they do so, being accountable for their mission only to their biblical God.
Now the Louisiana governor has gone to the media to ask for prayers for the state and particularly for New Orleans. How very interesting that New Orleans, extending the welcome mat to sodomites, is now in need of prayer from the very God the perverts disdain.
It’s that way when disaster strikes. As long as skies are clear and people’s bellies are full, God can go hang. But when calamity hits hard across America’s face, statesmen, governors, mayors and news people call on God. What must God think about that kind of hypocrisy?
Repent America will not play the hypocrisy game but will keep to one mode for lifestyle — that of the biblical mandate. It is this, in both Old and New Testaments: "Be holy, even as I am holy." Those words are from the Creator.
One wonders what "Southern Decadence" organizers are pondering today and tomorrow and the next morrow. Will any moral sense break through their din? Only God knows. Nevertheless, Repent America will be there to warn them, beseech them to turn from their wicked ways, and live the holy life under God.
Repent America’s director, Michael Marcavage, said that "‘this act of God destroyed a wicked city. New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.
"’We must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long.’"
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
New law could mean death penalty for doctors
Legislators say that wasn't their intent with the abortion measure
By KELLEY SHANNON
Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3330600
AUSTIN - Texas doctors who perform abortions without parental approval or after the third trimester could face capital murder charges because of a new law that takes effect this week, a prosecutors group says.
The Texas District and County Attorneys Association has outlined that scenario in its new book updating the Texas penal code and in public presentations around the state. The group says such charges could occur under the new law because of the 2003 fetal protection law.
Key legislators said Monday that wasn't their intent.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Robertson: Gays and lesbians are "self-absorbed narcissists" responsible for no-fault divorce and abortion
Media Matters
August 17, 2005
http://mediamatters.org/items/200508170006
[...]
From the August 16 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club:
ROBERTSON: I had interviewed a lady who was a sociologist who says "I am a lesbian," but she described homosexuality in this term, she said, "They are self-absorbed narcissists." I want you to put that down -- self-absorbed narcissists who are willing to destroy any institution so long as they can have affirmation of their lifestyle. You go back to the various laws that took away the difficulty of getting a divorce, and the people leading the charge were homosexuals, way back in the '70s. So we have no-fault divorce. Who are leading the charge for abortions? So often, you'll find people who are lesbians leading the fight for the destruction of human life. Now they want to destroy marriage.
[Full video at URL; Quicktime required]
----- 6 -----
Abortion Groups Question Administration on Plan B Protocol
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
August 31, 2005
[Received in email; no URL]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a freedom
of information request with the Bush administration on
Tuesday, seeking an explanation for why top officials do
not advise hospitals to offer the "morning-after pill" --
also known as Plan B -- to victims of sexual assault,
LifeNews.com reported.
Abortion advocates such as NARAL Pro-Choice America and
Planned Parenthood have been critical of the protocol
state health departments received from the Justice
Department last November because it does not include
instructions to give women who have been raped Plan B --
which prevents pregnancy and can induce abortion.
Louise Melling of the ACLU said the government is not
doing enough for rape victims.
"It is time for the Department of Justice to be
accountable for refusing to do everything it can to
protect sexual assault survivors from unintended
pregnancy," she said.
But Elizabeth Graham of Texas Right to Life said forcing
any medical provider to offer a drug that can cause an
abortion is outrageous.
"Health care providers should never be forced to
participate in procedures or practices to which they are
morally opposed," she said.
Just last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration
announced it has indefinitely postponed its decision on
whether to authorize the over-the-counter sale of Plan B.
----- 7 -----
Same-Sex Couples in Maryland Sue for Right to Marry
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
August 31, 2005
[Received in email; no URL]
Nine same-sex couples in Maryland have sued the state for
the right to marry, the Washington Post reported.
The suit, heard Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, asks
the court to strike down a 1973 state law that limits
marriage to one man and one woman.
The homosexual couples are represented by the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued in court that
the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage is
irrational and rooted in discrimination, comparing it to
the state's previous prohibition of interracial marriage.
Steven Sullivan and Robert Zarnoch, both assistant
attorneys general for the state, countered that there are
years of precedent protecting traditional marriage.
"Marriage is described as between a man and a woman
repeatedly," Zarnoch said.
Sullivan argued that the state has a compelling interest
in preserving its law to avoid a "morass" of legal
confusion across the nation.
"It's an inescapable fact," he said, "that federal law
describes marriage as between a man and a woman."
Judge M. Brooke Murdock heard the case.
"The court has to fly in the face of tradition to find in
favor of your clients," she told the ACLU lawyer. "There
are thousands of years of tradition in which marriage has
been defined."
Murdock is expected to issue a written opinion soon.
Earlier this year, Gov. Robert Ehrlich vetoed legislation
that would have allowed for domestic partnerships in the
state, saying it threatened "the sanctity of traditional
marriage."
----- 8 -----
Air Force Religious-Expression Guidelines Called 'Hypocritical'
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
August 31, 2005
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0037752.cfm
SUMMARY: New policies bar prayer except in "extraordinary
circumstances."
Base and unit commanders in the U.S. Air Force have new
guidelines to follow when it comes to religion: no public
prayers, period, except in "extraordinary circumstances."
The official pronouncement from Air Force high command
cautions unit leaders against promoting faith -- or even
"the idea of religion over non-religion" -- in any
official way or venue, "including official communications
or meetings, sports events or ceremonies."
The guidelines came into being in the wake of a report
compiled earlier this year in connection with an
investigation into charges of religious intolerance at the
Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker told Family News in
Focus his base will be happy to comply.
"We're not banning anybody's promotion of religion," he
said, "as long as it's done at the right venues at the
right time."
But the guidelines essentially discourage public prayers
at all official Air Force events other than worship
services -- except in "extraordinary circumstances," which
would include "mass casualties, preparation for imminent
combat and natural disasters."
Mat Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, an Orlando,
Fla.-based religious liberties law firm, said the
regulations are outrageous.
[...]
An Air Force report issued earlier in the summer had
indicated that while there was no systematic
discrimination at the Air Force Academy, there had been
some violations of religious pluralism by some evangelical
Christians.
Grove City College sociology professor Steven Jones, an
academic expert on religious freedom issues, said it is
true that a pluralistic society like America must protect
religious pluralism. But it also doesn't follow that
public institutions must somehow vouchsafe the so-called
"freedom from religion."
"The problem is, of course, that freedom from religion
often is interpreted to mean that people with religious
convictions cannot act on the basis of those religious
convictions in the public sphere," Jones said. "Well, that
restricts their rights as citizens. I don't think you get
to disqualify people of faith, whatever that faith, simply
because their motivations may be religious in nature."
[...]
Staver added that while we can respect the different
religious persuasions of individuals, "this country was
based upon Judeo-Christian principles -- and upon a belief
in God."
"Certainly, we can have religious views and we can protect
people's religious freedom without becoming an atheistic
country."
[...]
The U.S. Naval Academy, meanwhile, has indicated it has no
plans to stop saying grace before its midshipmen's lunch,
regardless of the Air Force policy.
Naval chaplains have been praying at lunch at the
Annapolis, Md., service academy since its founding in
1845, and Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. Rod Gibbons said
there are no plans to change the tradition. Prayers, he
said, are nondenominational and are led by Roman Catholic,
Jewish or Protestant chaplains.
Staver, who applauded the Navy tradition, said Americans
need to call upon the nation's commander-in-chief,
President Bush, to consider reviewing the Air Force
guidelines.
"We are a 'nation under God,' as our Pledge says," Staver
pointed out, "and once we forget that, we've forgotten our
heritage. And once we do that, we're no longer America."
TAKE ACTION: Please contact President Bush and urge him to
restore the right to religious expression in the Air
Force. For contact information, including an easy-to-use
e-mail form, visit the CitizenLink Action Center.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=20004&lvl=F
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Homosexual ‘Civil Rights’ Bill in House Committee
Concerned Women for America
8/31/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8821/CWA/family/index.htm
An amendment to the Civil Rights Act sponsored by Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-New York, is currently in the Constitution subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. The measure would add sexual orientation the nation’s leading civil rights law and would add sexual orientation to the Fair Housing Act as well. Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute has more on HR 288.
Click here to listen. [Link to: http://www.cwfa.org/play.asp?id=cw20050830a ]
Those who wish to voice their opinion about this proposed law should contact members of the House Judiciary Committee at 202-225-3951. You may also reach members through the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
----- 10 -----
Boys to men minus dad
By Cheryl Wetzstein
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 30, 2005
http://washingtontimes.com/culture/20050829-112008-4609r.htm
Single mothers can raise boys just fine -- and maybe even better than families with moms and dads, psychology professor and gender scholar Peggy Drexler says in a new book.
Yes, widespread public opinion says a boy must have a father in the home in order to achieve full manhood, says Mrs. Drexler, an assistant professor of psychology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
But according to her research on 124 parents of boys, most of whom are single mothers or lesbian couples, "I have found there is absolutely no reason to expect that single or gay moms cannot raise sons on their own," Mrs. Drexler writes in "Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men."
"Maverick mothers" throw themselves into parenting their sons and "really nurture" their sons' masculinity, she explains. As a result, mother-raised sons are emotionally strong, empathetic, independent-minded and well-rounded -- even more so than sons raised in traditional mother-father families, says Mrs. Drexler.
What matters is not gender, but the quality of parenting, says Mrs. Drexler, a former gender scholar at Stanford University and the married mother of two. "Parenting is either good or deficient, not male or female."
Robert Knight, who studies families and same-sex parenting at Concerned Women for America, shakes his head at such a theory.
That sounds like "typical feminist ideology masquerading as social science," he said. It "really is the radical feminist dream" to say that boys raised in lesbian homes are the same as boys raised by mothers and fathers -- or that boys raised by lesbians are actually better because they're more like girls, he said.
Fathers are absolutely crucial to boys, Mr. Knight said, citing research contained in child psychologist James Dobson's 2001 book "Bringing Up Boys."
[More at URL] [Ed. Note: this is the same James Dobson who heads Focus on the Family and recently made the splash by talking about how important it was for male children to see their father's penis in the shower.]
----- 11 -----
Starbucks entitled to off-the-cup opinion
Seattle Times
Editorial
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2002456159_quoted30.html
Free speech belongs to everyone. No one has a right not to be offended. No one has a right not to be criticized. In an open society, those are the rules.
Starbucks Coffee has an absolute right to inspire, comfort or offend people by printing on a coffee cup a quotation from author Armistead Maupin that begins, "My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long." This is quotation No. 43 from a series the company says is meant to inspire dialogue. Most of the quotations avoid the raw spots of public opinion; radio host Michael Medved, who might have been quoted in favor of traditional families, is quoted instead on the virtues of turning off one's television set.
A group called Concerned Women for America, which says it seeks to "protect and promote biblical values among all citizens," has objected to the Maupin quotation. A local spokeswoman suggested that Starbucks' off-the-cup opinions leaned left, and that if the company wants righties to buy lattes, it should put conservative opinions on cups.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
California State Senate Poised to Vote on Homosexual Marriage Bill
TVC Lobbyist Asks Will Senate Democrats Stand with their Districts Against Bill or Cave in to Pressure from Radical Activists?
Traditional Values Coalition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 31, 2005
Contact: Mary Buzzone
(714) 520-0300
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2399
Anaheim, California —“With Democrats in the clear majority in the State Senate, they will decide whether homosexual couples can marry here in California,” said Benjamin Lopez, legislative analyst and lobbyist for Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). “The fate of marriage as we know it is in their hands.”
“The question though is this, ‘Will Democrats in the Senate stand with the majority voters in their districts that voted for Proposition 22 in March 2000 proclaiming marriage for one man and one woman, or will they divorce themselves from the voters they claim to represent and vote for a bill that flies in the face of traditional marriage and Prop 22.” Lopez stated.
In the March 2000 Primary Election, 61.4% of California voters passed Proposition 22, which stated: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” 101 out of 120 legislative districts voted in favor of Prop 22; eighteen of those districts are represented by Democrats in the State Senate.
Those Democrats are (Senator’s Name, Percentage of Vote): Richard Alarcon 54.9%; Debra Bowen 58.2%; Gil Cedillo 51.0%; Wes Chesbro 52.8%; Denise Ducheny 66.8%; Joe Dunn 73.1%; Martha Escutia 66.4%; Liz Figueroa 58.0%; Dean Florez 79.1%; Christine Kehoe 52.7%; Alan Lowenthal 64.3%; Mike Machado 64.1%; Deborah Ortiz 51.7%; Jack Scott 57.9%; Joe Simitian 51.2%; Nell Soto 74.6%; Tom Torlakson 57.9%; Ed Vincent 60.0%.
Vatican considers moves against celibate gay priests;
Fundamentalist groups blame gay people for Katrina and New Orleans (1);
Fundamentalist groups blame gay people for Katrina and New Orleans (2);
New Texas laws combine to provide opportunity to charge abortion-providing doctors with a capital crime - authors say this was never their intention;
Pat Robertson calls GBLT people "self-absorbed narcissists who are willing to destroy any institution so long as they can have affirmation of their lifestyle," blames GBLT-folk for no-fault divorce - the hosting site points out that Ronald Reagan signed the first no-fault divorce law in the country, as governor of California;
More wrestling over Plan B; in this case, not talking about emergency contraception with rape victims;
After governor vetoes DP legislation, same-sex couples sue in Maryland for marriage rights;
Focus on the Family article and action item against restrictions on prostelization at the Air Force Academy;
CWA action item against GBLT-inclusive civil rights bill currently in House Judiciary committee;
Washington Times and fundamentalist leaders take umbrage at the idea that single parents and lesbian couples can properly raise male children;
Seattle Times to CWA attack on Starbucks Coffee - bugger off;
TVC action item against marriage rights in California.
----- 1 -----
Vatican plan to block gay priests
Jamie Doward, religious affairs correspondent
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1558063,00.html
The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests.
The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church's training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI.
It been suggested Rome would publish the instruction earlier this month, but it dropped the plan out of concern that such a move might tarnish his visit to his home city of Cologne last week.
The document expresses the church's belief that gay men should no longer be allowed to enter seminaries to study for the priesthood. Currently, as all priests take a vow of celibacy, their sexual orientation has not been considered a pressing concern.
Vatican-watchers believe the Pope harbours doubts about whether the church should publish the document, which has already been the subject of three drafts.
'Inevitably, such a directive will be met with opposition,' said John Haldane, professor of moral philosophy at the University of St Andrews.
The instruction tries to dampen down the controversy by eschewing a moral line, arguing instead that the presence of homosexuals in seminaries is 'unfair' to both gay and heterosexual priests by subjecting the former to temptation.
'It will be written in a very pastoral mode,' Haldane said. 'It will not be an attack on the gay lifestyle. It will not say "homosexuality is immoral". But it will suggest that admitting gay men into the priesthood places a burden both on those who are homosexual and those they are working alongside who are not.'
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Gays 'Responsible' For New Orleans Devastation Group Claims
by Fidel Ortega 365Gay.com Miami Bureau
Posted: August 31, 2005 3:00 pm ET
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/08/083105nola.htm
(New Orleans, Louisiana) An evangelical Christian group that regularly demonstrates at LGBT events is blaming gays for hurricane Katrina.
Repent America says that God "destroyed" New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay festival that was to have taken place in the city over the Labor Day weekend.
"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars" Repent America director Michael Marcavage said in a statement Wednesday.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city." Marcavage said. "From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."
"Let us pray for those ravaged by this disaster. However, we must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said.
"May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
As 365Gay.com reported on Tuesday, organizers for Southern Decadence have cancelled the event and are promising full ticket refunds. (story)
[...]
Repent America most recently demonstrated at the Philadelphia Phillies tribute to gay fans earlier this month. (story)
Last year 10 members of Repent America marched to an area near the front of a stage at Philadelphia's Outfest and began to yell Biblical passages.
Police attempted to get the protestors to move to to an area on the edge of the Outfest site. Instead they went deeper into the gay crowd. Using a bullhorn they condemned homosexuality. They then got into an argument with a group of Pink Angels, who screamed back.
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
NEW ORLEANS’ SIN BROUGHT DEVASTATION: ‘REPENT AMERICA’
By J. Grant Swank, Jr.
MichNews.com
Aug 31, 2005
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_9292.shtml
"Southern Decadence" was set for New Orleans soon. It was to be a yearly hoopla celebrating practicing homosexuality as a legitimate, giddy lifestyle.
Thousands upon thousands were going to crawl all over New Orleans "to celebrate their sexuality," according to Methodist lay preacher Gary Hopkins of Ekklesia.co.uk (gary.hopkins@ekklesia.co.uk).
In other words, Sodom and Gomorrah were to be reenacted in broad daylight — and into the night haunts as well. It would be one high ol’ time of it in the southern scape.
Police would be forced to look the other way or fill the jails to overflowing. Decent citizens would cover their eyes to play hide-and-seek against the all-inclusive wickedness. Little children would be taken on hopefully safe excursions in order to escape the blatant evil parading their avenues. Businesses would money-shoot off the charts from homosexuals’ open wallets in festive abandon.
Then came along Katrina.
Now New Orleans is under water, bathing in sewage and devastation rather than providing downtown fountains for homosexual capers aplenty.
All of this has prompted Repent America to conclude that the biblical God had a heavy hand in the Katrina swing along. It’s an "‘act of God,’" they claim to media. United States-based, Repent America goes to the streets to preach repentance of sin, conversion to Christ as personal Savior, and thereby living the holy lifestyle according to the biblical message.
As far as Repent America is concerned, divine judgment has come upon a metropolis that was bent on making its environs open to hell’s demons. Therefore, God intervened. There will be no "Southern Decadence" skipping the light fantastic. Over and out. Done. Gone. Under water.
[...]
Repent America brings the nation back to Jesus’ opening call and Peter’s declaration as this evangelical organization continues to warn souls of personal accounting at the Judgment Seat of Christ. They do so without apology. They do so at the chagrin of theological liberals. They do so at the mockery of lesbians and homosexuals who claim to be "Christian." Yet they do so, being accountable for their mission only to their biblical God.
Now the Louisiana governor has gone to the media to ask for prayers for the state and particularly for New Orleans. How very interesting that New Orleans, extending the welcome mat to sodomites, is now in need of prayer from the very God the perverts disdain.
It’s that way when disaster strikes. As long as skies are clear and people’s bellies are full, God can go hang. But when calamity hits hard across America’s face, statesmen, governors, mayors and news people call on God. What must God think about that kind of hypocrisy?
Repent America will not play the hypocrisy game but will keep to one mode for lifestyle — that of the biblical mandate. It is this, in both Old and New Testaments: "Be holy, even as I am holy." Those words are from the Creator.
One wonders what "Southern Decadence" organizers are pondering today and tomorrow and the next morrow. Will any moral sense break through their din? Only God knows. Nevertheless, Repent America will be there to warn them, beseech them to turn from their wicked ways, and live the holy life under God.
Repent America’s director, Michael Marcavage, said that "‘this act of God destroyed a wicked city. New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.
"’We must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long.’"
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
New law could mean death penalty for doctors
Legislators say that wasn't their intent with the abortion measure
By KELLEY SHANNON
Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3330600
AUSTIN - Texas doctors who perform abortions without parental approval or after the third trimester could face capital murder charges because of a new law that takes effect this week, a prosecutors group says.
The Texas District and County Attorneys Association has outlined that scenario in its new book updating the Texas penal code and in public presentations around the state. The group says such charges could occur under the new law because of the 2003 fetal protection law.
Key legislators said Monday that wasn't their intent.
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Robertson: Gays and lesbians are "self-absorbed narcissists" responsible for no-fault divorce and abortion
Media Matters
August 17, 2005
http://mediamatters.org/items/200508170006
[...]
From the August 16 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club:
ROBERTSON: I had interviewed a lady who was a sociologist who says "I am a lesbian," but she described homosexuality in this term, she said, "They are self-absorbed narcissists." I want you to put that down -- self-absorbed narcissists who are willing to destroy any institution so long as they can have affirmation of their lifestyle. You go back to the various laws that took away the difficulty of getting a divorce, and the people leading the charge were homosexuals, way back in the '70s. So we have no-fault divorce. Who are leading the charge for abortions? So often, you'll find people who are lesbians leading the fight for the destruction of human life. Now they want to destroy marriage.
[Full video at URL; Quicktime required]
----- 6 -----
Abortion Groups Question Administration on Plan B Protocol
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
August 31, 2005
[Received in email; no URL]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a freedom
of information request with the Bush administration on
Tuesday, seeking an explanation for why top officials do
not advise hospitals to offer the "morning-after pill" --
also known as Plan B -- to victims of sexual assault,
LifeNews.com reported.
Abortion advocates such as NARAL Pro-Choice America and
Planned Parenthood have been critical of the protocol
state health departments received from the Justice
Department last November because it does not include
instructions to give women who have been raped Plan B --
which prevents pregnancy and can induce abortion.
Louise Melling of the ACLU said the government is not
doing enough for rape victims.
"It is time for the Department of Justice to be
accountable for refusing to do everything it can to
protect sexual assault survivors from unintended
pregnancy," she said.
But Elizabeth Graham of Texas Right to Life said forcing
any medical provider to offer a drug that can cause an
abortion is outrageous.
"Health care providers should never be forced to
participate in procedures or practices to which they are
morally opposed," she said.
Just last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration
announced it has indefinitely postponed its decision on
whether to authorize the over-the-counter sale of Plan B.
----- 7 -----
Same-Sex Couples in Maryland Sue for Right to Marry
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
August 31, 2005
[Received in email; no URL]
Nine same-sex couples in Maryland have sued the state for
the right to marry, the Washington Post reported.
The suit, heard Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, asks
the court to strike down a 1973 state law that limits
marriage to one man and one woman.
The homosexual couples are represented by the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued in court that
the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage is
irrational and rooted in discrimination, comparing it to
the state's previous prohibition of interracial marriage.
Steven Sullivan and Robert Zarnoch, both assistant
attorneys general for the state, countered that there are
years of precedent protecting traditional marriage.
"Marriage is described as between a man and a woman
repeatedly," Zarnoch said.
Sullivan argued that the state has a compelling interest
in preserving its law to avoid a "morass" of legal
confusion across the nation.
"It's an inescapable fact," he said, "that federal law
describes marriage as between a man and a woman."
Judge M. Brooke Murdock heard the case.
"The court has to fly in the face of tradition to find in
favor of your clients," she told the ACLU lawyer. "There
are thousands of years of tradition in which marriage has
been defined."
Murdock is expected to issue a written opinion soon.
Earlier this year, Gov. Robert Ehrlich vetoed legislation
that would have allowed for domestic partnerships in the
state, saying it threatened "the sanctity of traditional
marriage."
----- 8 -----
Air Force Religious-Expression Guidelines Called 'Hypocritical'
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
August 31, 2005
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0037752.cfm
SUMMARY: New policies bar prayer except in "extraordinary
circumstances."
Base and unit commanders in the U.S. Air Force have new
guidelines to follow when it comes to religion: no public
prayers, period, except in "extraordinary circumstances."
The official pronouncement from Air Force high command
cautions unit leaders against promoting faith -- or even
"the idea of religion over non-religion" -- in any
official way or venue, "including official communications
or meetings, sports events or ceremonies."
The guidelines came into being in the wake of a report
compiled earlier this year in connection with an
investigation into charges of religious intolerance at the
Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker told Family News in
Focus his base will be happy to comply.
"We're not banning anybody's promotion of religion," he
said, "as long as it's done at the right venues at the
right time."
But the guidelines essentially discourage public prayers
at all official Air Force events other than worship
services -- except in "extraordinary circumstances," which
would include "mass casualties, preparation for imminent
combat and natural disasters."
Mat Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, an Orlando,
Fla.-based religious liberties law firm, said the
regulations are outrageous.
[...]
An Air Force report issued earlier in the summer had
indicated that while there was no systematic
discrimination at the Air Force Academy, there had been
some violations of religious pluralism by some evangelical
Christians.
Grove City College sociology professor Steven Jones, an
academic expert on religious freedom issues, said it is
true that a pluralistic society like America must protect
religious pluralism. But it also doesn't follow that
public institutions must somehow vouchsafe the so-called
"freedom from religion."
"The problem is, of course, that freedom from religion
often is interpreted to mean that people with religious
convictions cannot act on the basis of those religious
convictions in the public sphere," Jones said. "Well, that
restricts their rights as citizens. I don't think you get
to disqualify people of faith, whatever that faith, simply
because their motivations may be religious in nature."
[...]
Staver added that while we can respect the different
religious persuasions of individuals, "this country was
based upon Judeo-Christian principles -- and upon a belief
in God."
"Certainly, we can have religious views and we can protect
people's religious freedom without becoming an atheistic
country."
[...]
The U.S. Naval Academy, meanwhile, has indicated it has no
plans to stop saying grace before its midshipmen's lunch,
regardless of the Air Force policy.
Naval chaplains have been praying at lunch at the
Annapolis, Md., service academy since its founding in
1845, and Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. Rod Gibbons said
there are no plans to change the tradition. Prayers, he
said, are nondenominational and are led by Roman Catholic,
Jewish or Protestant chaplains.
Staver, who applauded the Navy tradition, said Americans
need to call upon the nation's commander-in-chief,
President Bush, to consider reviewing the Air Force
guidelines.
"We are a 'nation under God,' as our Pledge says," Staver
pointed out, "and once we forget that, we've forgotten our
heritage. And once we do that, we're no longer America."
TAKE ACTION: Please contact President Bush and urge him to
restore the right to religious expression in the Air
Force. For contact information, including an easy-to-use
e-mail form, visit the CitizenLink Action Center.
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/bio/?id=20004&lvl=F
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
Homosexual ‘Civil Rights’ Bill in House Committee
Concerned Women for America
8/31/2005
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8821/CWA/family/index.htm
An amendment to the Civil Rights Act sponsored by Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-New York, is currently in the Constitution subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. The measure would add sexual orientation the nation’s leading civil rights law and would add sexual orientation to the Fair Housing Act as well. Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute has more on HR 288.
Click here to listen. [Link to: http://www.cwfa.org/play.asp?id=cw20050830a ]
Those who wish to voice their opinion about this proposed law should contact members of the House Judiciary Committee at 202-225-3951. You may also reach members through the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
----- 10 -----
Boys to men minus dad
By Cheryl Wetzstein
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 30, 2005
http://washingtontimes.com/culture/20050829-112008-4609r.htm
Single mothers can raise boys just fine -- and maybe even better than families with moms and dads, psychology professor and gender scholar Peggy Drexler says in a new book.
Yes, widespread public opinion says a boy must have a father in the home in order to achieve full manhood, says Mrs. Drexler, an assistant professor of psychology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
But according to her research on 124 parents of boys, most of whom are single mothers or lesbian couples, "I have found there is absolutely no reason to expect that single or gay moms cannot raise sons on their own," Mrs. Drexler writes in "Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men."
"Maverick mothers" throw themselves into parenting their sons and "really nurture" their sons' masculinity, she explains. As a result, mother-raised sons are emotionally strong, empathetic, independent-minded and well-rounded -- even more so than sons raised in traditional mother-father families, says Mrs. Drexler.
What matters is not gender, but the quality of parenting, says Mrs. Drexler, a former gender scholar at Stanford University and the married mother of two. "Parenting is either good or deficient, not male or female."
Robert Knight, who studies families and same-sex parenting at Concerned Women for America, shakes his head at such a theory.
That sounds like "typical feminist ideology masquerading as social science," he said. It "really is the radical feminist dream" to say that boys raised in lesbian homes are the same as boys raised by mothers and fathers -- or that boys raised by lesbians are actually better because they're more like girls, he said.
Fathers are absolutely crucial to boys, Mr. Knight said, citing research contained in child psychologist James Dobson's 2001 book "Bringing Up Boys."
[More at URL] [Ed. Note: this is the same James Dobson who heads Focus on the Family and recently made the splash by talking about how important it was for male children to see their father's penis in the shower.]
----- 11 -----
Starbucks entitled to off-the-cup opinion
Seattle Times
Editorial
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2002456159_quoted30.html
Free speech belongs to everyone. No one has a right not to be offended. No one has a right not to be criticized. In an open society, those are the rules.
Starbucks Coffee has an absolute right to inspire, comfort or offend people by printing on a coffee cup a quotation from author Armistead Maupin that begins, "My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long." This is quotation No. 43 from a series the company says is meant to inspire dialogue. Most of the quotations avoid the raw spots of public opinion; radio host Michael Medved, who might have been quoted in favor of traditional families, is quoted instead on the virtues of turning off one's television set.
A group called Concerned Women for America, which says it seeks to "protect and promote biblical values among all citizens," has objected to the Maupin quotation. A local spokeswoman suggested that Starbucks' off-the-cup opinions leaned left, and that if the company wants righties to buy lattes, it should put conservative opinions on cups.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
California State Senate Poised to Vote on Homosexual Marriage Bill
TVC Lobbyist Asks Will Senate Democrats Stand with their Districts Against Bill or Cave in to Pressure from Radical Activists?
Traditional Values Coalition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 31, 2005
Contact: Mary Buzzone
(714) 520-0300
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2399
Anaheim, California —“With Democrats in the clear majority in the State Senate, they will decide whether homosexual couples can marry here in California,” said Benjamin Lopez, legislative analyst and lobbyist for Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). “The fate of marriage as we know it is in their hands.”
“The question though is this, ‘Will Democrats in the Senate stand with the majority voters in their districts that voted for Proposition 22 in March 2000 proclaiming marriage for one man and one woman, or will they divorce themselves from the voters they claim to represent and vote for a bill that flies in the face of traditional marriage and Prop 22.” Lopez stated.
In the March 2000 Primary Election, 61.4% of California voters passed Proposition 22, which stated: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” 101 out of 120 legislative districts voted in favor of Prop 22; eighteen of those districts are represented by Democrats in the State Senate.
Those Democrats are (Senator’s Name, Percentage of Vote): Richard Alarcon 54.9%; Debra Bowen 58.2%; Gil Cedillo 51.0%; Wes Chesbro 52.8%; Denise Ducheny 66.8%; Joe Dunn 73.1%; Martha Escutia 66.4%; Liz Figueroa 58.0%; Dean Florez 79.1%; Christine Kehoe 52.7%; Alan Lowenthal 64.3%; Mike Machado 64.1%; Deborah Ortiz 51.7%; Jack Scott 57.9%; Joe Simitian 51.2%; Nell Soto 74.6%; Tom Torlakson 57.9%; Ed Vincent 60.0%.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 09:14 am (UTC)Not surprised they want to avoid celebrating gay priests. The Vatican would rather pretend homosexuals don't even exist than throw them a party.
Perhaps that should be "celibate" instead of "celebrate"? ^-^
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-04 01:52 pm (UTC)Item 5 about perpetually small-minded Pat Robertson blaming homosexual activists for the no-fault divorce laws is funny in how far divorced from reality that concept is. Because gays can't get married, they can't get divorced. Okay, technically there is a dollop of validity to the concept, because the homosexual activists were politically allied with the feminists working for no-fault divorce. And as a special case, a homosexual who pretended to heterosexuality enough to marry heterosexually could want a divorce. But it is still funny.
Erin Schram